Skip to main content

Ramayana: Shattered Dreams

Book Review

Ramayana: the Game of Life
Book 2: Shattered Dreams
Author:  Shubha Vilas
Publisher: Jaico, 2015
Pages: 387       Price: Rs350

Both the Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are brilliant tales about the complex game called life.  The good and the evil, the benevolent and malevolent, the divine and the demoniac, all appear in their due proportions at the appropriate times.  Though many thousand years have passed since their composition, the stories continue to fascinate readers all over the world because they are still relevant.  The virtues and vices portrayed in them belong to mankind irrespective of time.

However, any reader should learn to interpret them according to his/her given time.  This is precisely what Shubha Vilas has done with his series of books titled, Ramayana: the Game of Life.  While the first book, Rise of the Sun Prince, dwelt upon the life of Rama until his marriage, the present volume takes us through arguably the most poignant events in the life of the royal family. 

The author is not merely retelling the story of the epic in modern language; he is taking us on a journey of meditation through the minds of the different characters ranging from the wily Manthara who wakes up Keikeyi’s potential for evil to the egoless boatman who drinks the water with which he has washed the feet of Rama, from Sita who follows Rama to the life of asceticism to Urmila who lets go her husband with the same spirit of asceticism, from the elevated sage Vasist to the fallen sage Ugrasravas. 

There are very interesting discussions, footnotes, and other digressions that suffuse the novel.  For example, the chapter dealing with Rama’s exile from Ayodhya presents a fascinating discussion on ‘How does one handle reversals in life?’  The author’s suggestions, based on Rama’s example, are very pragmatic and in tune with psychological approaches.  He suggests flexibility, focus amid temptations, awareness about the power of responsibility, and steadfastness as the strategies.  There are many other similar discussions in the other chapters.

All the major characters are brought alive by the author in a simple yet fascinating way.  Literature and spirituality blend comfortably in the book.  I was particularly struck by Bharata’s explanation of the whole exile episode:

”Manthara is not to be blamed for what happened.  She is a maid after all, what do you expect from her?  Even Keikeyi is not to be blamed for this mishap.  She is a mother after all, what do you expect from her?  She has natural blind affection for her son.  Even the king is not to be blamed.  He had to keep his words after all, how can he be at fault?  Nor can Rama be blamed for the whole catastrophe.  He is an obedient son after all, with the burden of setting the right example for the world to follow.  If you want to know who is actually at fault for Raghunandana going to the forest, let me tell you, it is my sin that is at fault.  Because of my sin, so many people had to suffer.”

Bharata’s sin is in fact the sin of the whole mankind.  It is an endless continuum of the sins of commission and omission, the sins of callous indifference and unwarranted interference, the sins of greed and envy, of all the normal human vices and foibles.  Bharata was taking up the sins of the world on to himself.  Yet another Messiah whose message would meet the same fate as those of all others.

Anyone who wishes to take a novel journey through a very important section of the Ramayana may find this book alluring.  It is not a literary experience that the book provides, however; it is more spiritual and psychological.

Those who are put off easily by the miraculous and the supernatural may grimace while reading certain parts.  The author is a religious person by profession though he holds degrees in engineering and law.  If you can suppress your scepticism when confronted with the irrational, you will find the book rewarding in many ways.  

This review is a part of the biggest http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program for http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Comments

  1. I've read the first part of the book and, I completely agree with your last paragraph. Short yet precise review... :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When a religious person interprets any book with religious connection miracles are bound to abound.

      Delete
  2. they say there more than 1000 Rama and 1000 Ramayana :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The author of this particular book has actually taken material from quite a few different versions

      Delete
  3. I had read the book and given the review. it is a good book indeed..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice.. :)
    Check mine at https://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=452573

    ReplyDelete
  5. Uttpal, your link took me to Singapore Fried Bee Hoon. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for this review.Looks like an interesting and insight giving book!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I won’t vote

From Deshabhimani , Malayalam weekly Exactly a month from today is the Parliamentary election in my state of Kerala. This time, I’m not going to vote. Bernard Shaw defined democracy , with his characteristic cynicism, as “ a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve .” We elect our government in a democracy. And the government invariably sucks our blood – whichever the party is. The BJP and the Congress are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee though the former makes all sorts of other claims day in and day out. BJP = Congress + the holy cow. The holy cow has turned out to be quite a vampire and that makes a difference, no doubt. In our Prime Minister’s algebra, it is: (a+b) 2 which should be equal to a 2 and b 2 . There is an extra 2ab which is the holy cow. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm , the animals revolt against the human master and set up their own nationalist republic. Soon politics develops in the republic and some pigs become leaders. The porcine

Prelude to AtoZ

  From Garden of 5 Senses, Delhi [file pic] Hindsight gives an unearthly charm and order to the past. There can be pain too. A lot of things could have been different, much better, if only we possessed the wisdom of our old age back in those days. As a writer put it, Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear and a lot of those guys must have thought, “I wish I had known this some time ago.” Life is a series of errors with intermittent achievements. The only usefulness of the errors may be the lessons they teach us. Probably, that is their purpose too. We are created to err so that we learn, I dare to put it that way. I turn 64 in a month’s time. It’s not inappropriate to look back at some of the people whom life brought into my life so that I would learn certain lessons. No, I don’t mean to say that life has any such purpose or design or anything. Life is absurd. People come into your life as haphazardly as vehicles ply on your road or birds poop on your head. Some of these people change the chemist

How Arvind Kejriwal can save himself

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have a clear vision. Eliminate all opposition. Decimate them or absorb them. My previous post [link below] showed a few people decimated by them. Today let’s look at the others: those who are saved by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]. 1. Himanta Biswa Sarma  This guy was in Congress and faced serious charges related to the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. He also faced corruption charges related to drinking water supply in Guwahati. His house was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI]. Then he switched over to BJP and all his crimes just vanished. It’s as simple as taking a dip in the Ganga and all your sins are forgiven. Today he is the chief minister of Assam. Nothing is heard of all the charges that were levelled against him. 2. Amarinder Singh  This former Captain in the Indian Army was a Congressman until Modi’s Enforcement Directorate [ED] started raiding him, his son and his son-in-law. He put an end to all those raid

The Good Old World

Book Review Title: Dukhi Dadiba and irony of fate Author: Dadi Edulji Taraporewala Translators: Aban Mukherji and Tulsi Vatsal Publisher: Ratna Books, Delhi, 2023 Pages: 314 If you want to return to the good old days of the late 19 th century, this is an ideal novel for you. This was published originally in Gujarati in 1913. It appeared as a serial before that from 1898 onwards in a periodical. The conflict between good and evil is the dominant motif though there is romance, betrayal, disappointment, regret, and pretty much of traditional morality. Reading this novel is quite like watching an old Bollywood movie, 1960s style. Ardeshir Bahadurshah, a wealthy Parsi aristocrat in Surat, dies having obligated his son Jehangir to find out his long-lost brother Rustom. Rustom was Bahadurshah’s son in his first marriage. The mother died when the boy was too small and the nurse who looked after the child vanished with it one day. Ratanmai, Bahadurshah’s present wife, takes her

The Blindness of Superficiality

An Essay on Anees Salim’s novel The Blind Lady’s Descendants Superficiality is a deadly human vice though most people seldom realise it. It is easy to live on the surface of everything from one’s profession to religion. Anees Salim’s novel, The Blind Lady’s Descendants , tells us a story of superficiality as lived by quite many people. Amar, the protagonist of the novel, is 26 when he thinks that life is not worth living. He became an atheist at the age of 13. He had become a half-Muslim at the age of 5 when his little penis was circumcised partly since he ran away in pain during the process. Amar’s atheism, however, is as superficial as most believers’ religion is. What initiated little Amar to atheism is “Dr Ibrahim’s farting fit.” Islamic prayer has to follow many a rule. “If you break wind during namaaz, you break a big rule, and you are to discontinue the prayer then and there, with no second thoughts.” Little Amar was unable to control his giggles as Dr Ibrahim struggled to